Media Sycophants Tout Obama's Olympic "Dream Team"

Vol. 22, No. 21

October 5, 2009 - 8:55am

Media Sycophants Tout Obama's Olympic "Dream Team"

"For this Olympic bid, it's all about celebrity star power, and supporters of Chicago's bid hope President Obama will be the biggest star of all....We're told that at least a quarter of the delegates went into that meeting this morning without having made up their minds - and that if Chicago does take it in a very tight race, analysts here say they'll be calling it the 'Obama effect.'"- CBS's Sheila MacVicar on the October 2 Early Show, before news that Chicago's bid received the least votes from International Olympic Committee members.

"The 'Dream Team' pushing Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic summer games is nearly complete. First Lady Michelle Obama landed today in Denmark where Olympic officials are meeting....The team captain, meanwhile, President Obama, arrives Friday ahead of the final vote."- CBS's Katie Couric on the September 30 Evening News. [Audio/video (0:22): Windows Media[1] | MP3 audio[2]]

"The First Lady is heading Chicago's Olympic 'Dream Team,' with star athletes by her side and some very high-powered help....The President and First Lady will share the stage at that final presentation. We're told that he will focus on the big picture, while she will get very personal. She'll speak from the heart - we're told there won't be a dry eye in the house by the time she's done."- ABC's Yunji de Nies on Good Morning America, October 1. [Audio/video (0:24): Windows Media[3] | MP3 audio[4]]

"You know, it doesn't get any better in terms of PR blitzes than this. The President and First Lady tag-teaming here to help boost Chicago's chances for that Olympic bid, and it looks like it may be working....It will be a one, two, three punch: Michelle, Oprah, with President Obama hoping to seal the deal."- NBC's Natalie Morales on Today, October 1.

"One Way or Another," Government Must Run the Show

Charles Gibson: "The President says we need this public option to keep insurance costs in line. Now with that gone, do we face escalating insurance costs?"Dr. Tim Johnson: "Well, I think we face that no matter what happens. It is possible to have a very good health insurance system without a public option....Both Switzerland and Germany have a vibrant private health insurance system, no public option, but - and this is a huge but - very heavy government regulation of that private insurance industry. So one way or another, public option or regulation, the government has to play a role."- ABC's World News, September 29. [Audio/video (0:43): Windows Media[5] | MP3 audio[6]]

No More Liberal Lectures About Civility

"The Republicans lie! They want to see you dead! They'd rather make money off your dead corpse! They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don't have anything for her."- Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC's The Ed Show, September 23. [Audio/video (0:33): Windows Media[7] | MP3 audio[8]]

Pre-Blaming Talk Radio for Non-Existent "Violence"

Host Chris Matthews: "The activists on radio are not afraid, because they're not afraid of anything. But at some point, if we have violence in this country against our President of any form or attempt, people are gonna pay for it, the people who have encouraged the craziness...."The Politico's Roger Simon: "I agree 100 percent, but the base of the party, the core of the party, likes the clown show....They're playing with fire."- MSNBC's Hardball, September 22. [Audio/video (0:55): Windows Media[9] | MP3 audio[10]]

Inviting Obama to Bash Conservative "Meanness"

"It seems to me that there is a sort of meanness that's settled over our political dialogue. It started this summer at these town hall meetings....President Carter is now saying that he thinks it's racial. Nancy Pelosi says it could be dangerous. What do you think it's all about?"- CBS's Bob Schieffer to President Obama on Face the Nation, September 20.

"House Speaker Pelosi worried about the opposition, the tone of it, perhaps leading to violence as it did in the '70s. There's more recent examples of anti-government violence - occurring even in the mid-'90s. Do you worry about that?"- David Gregory to Obama on NBC's Meet the Press, same day.

"Far Right" Creating Climate for Obama's Assassination?

"I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995....The parallels to Israel then and America today turn my stomach: I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination."- New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, September 30[11].

Anchor Wolf Blitzer: "That was a very powerful column that Thomas Friedman wrote."Jack Cafferty: "It's a great piece."Blitzer: "I was very, very struck, because I remember covering Yitzhak Rabin's assassination....I remember the hatred that a tiny but extreme right-wing element in Israel had - religious zealots who thought they were doing the Lord's work by killing Rabin. And it was a very scary time in Israel then, and I guess to a certain degree it's pretty scary right now."- Talking about Friedman's column on CNN's The Situation Room, September 30.

Are They Still Out to Get You?

Moderator David Gregory: "Your wife famously talked about the vast right wing conspiracy targeting you. As you look at this opposition on the right to President Obama, is it still there?"Former President Bill Clinton: "Oh, you bet. Sure it is."- NBC's Meet the Press, September 27. [Audio/video (0:15): Windows Media[12] | MP3 audio[13]]

After Five Stories, "It's Time to Move On"

"This is classic for the press, driving from one side of the road to the other. We were flat-footed. We were slow to cover it. Now, we won't give it up. Yesterday, somebody sent me minutes from ACORN meetings out in California. I was like, 'Come on. It was a great story, but it's time to move on.'"- The Politico's Mike Allen on MSNBC's Morning Meeting, September 21. The ABC, CBS and NBC evening news broadcasts each produced one full report on the ACORN scandal in September, with CBS providing two brief follow-ups.

Best Seller Lists Crowded with "Right-Wing Crap"

Chris Matthews: "And, Douglas, good luck with the book, Teddy Roosevelt: The Wilderness Warrior."Historian Douglas Brinkley: "Thank you."Matthews: "A best-seller. It's great to see one book on the best seller list that's worth reading these days, and yours is. There's so much right-wing crap on the best seller list these days. It's great to see a book that you might want to put on your shelf and let your respected friends see you actually reading. Thank you very much."- Wrapping up an interview with Brinkley on MSNBC's Hardball, September 18. [Audio/video (0:20): Windows Media[14] | MP3 audio[15]]

Even Obama Not Liberal Enough for NBC News

Brian Williams: "When he was running for office and addressed throngs of people in Berlin, we were there when Barack Obama said, quote, 'This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.' But today, President Obama - in the eyes of a lot of environmentalists - fell short on that topic...."Reporter Anne Thompson: "When Barack Obama became President, many in the world hoped the U.S. would take a leadership role in stopping climate change. That led to big expectations for today's speech - expectations that were quickly dashed. The world wanted to hear President Obama make a commitment to specific cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. Instead of action, it got talk....and even one line that sounded a lot like his predecessor, George W. Bush, who refused to agree to emission cuts without similar actions from India and China."- NBC Nightly News, September 22.

Touting the "Fierce Catholic Faith" of Michael Moore

ABC's Terry Moran: "Michael Moore hates capitalism. He hates it with a savagely funny and surprisingly religious passion....At the heart of Moore's movie, at the heart of all his movies really, but this time it's overt, is a fierce Catholic faith, committed to justice for the poor and the disenfranchised, scorning a system that produces such inequality....[to Moore] Capitalism is anti-Christian?"Left-wing activist Michael Moore: "Absolutely. It goes completely against the values of Jesus and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha. All the great religions say that the pie at the table is to be divided fairly."- Story about Moore's film, Capitalism: A Love Story, September 22 Nightline.

No More Tweets for Liberal Post Editor

"We can incur all sorts of federal deficits for wars and what not. But we have to promise not to increase it by $1 for healthcare reform? Sad."- Twitter posting from Washington Post managing editor Raju Narisetti. After the Post issued social media guidelines directing that "nothing we do must call into question the impartiality of our news judgment," Narisetti closed his Twitter account, ombudsman Andrew Alexander reported in a September 25 posting to his "Omblog" blog.

Stoking Obama's Ego: "How Satisfying It Is To Watch You Work"

"I know whenever you invoke like Great Britain or Canada people start to shudder, people go, 'Oh, my God, it's socialized medicine! Oh, my God, it's socialized medicine!' And I'm not a socialist, but it don't sound that bad to me....I can't tell you how satisfying it is to watch you work."- Host David Letterman to President Obama on CBS's Late Show, September 21.

NBC Fantasizes About Prosecuting Bush Officials

District Attorney Jack McCoy, played by Sam Waterston: "This memo he wrote for the Department of Justice laid out the legal architecture permitting the abuse of prisoners, abuse that led directly to this death in Iraq. You could argue this memo is an element in a conspiracy to commit assault and depraved indifference murder...."Executive Assistant DA Michael Cutter, played by Linus Roache: "Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?"McCoy: "The word is torturing. And, yes, it's about time somebody did."- Scene from the season premiere of NBC's fictional Law & Order, September 25. [Audio/video (1:26): Windows Media[16] | MP3 audio[17]]

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